The Upstarts: How Uber, Airbnb, and the Killer Companies of the New Silicon Valley Are Changing the World

by Brad Stone

In late October, journalist Sarah Lacy of the technology blog PandoDaily wrote an essay excoriating Uber, in part for a ridiculous promotional campaign out of its office in Lyon, France, that offered to pair riders with attractive female drivers who appeared to be affiliated with an escort service.38 “Who said women don’t know how to drive?” read Uber’s advertisement; around the post were pictures of scantily clad women.39 When contacted by the press about the promotion, Uber quickly canceled it and pulled the post from its local Lyon blog. But Lacy, never one to shy away from bombastic pronouncements, declared that she was deleting the Uber app from her phone and accused Uber of having a corporate culture of sexism that endangered female drivers and passengers. “I don’t know how many more signals we need that the company simply doesn’t respect us or prioritize our safety,” she wrote.40 Inside Uber, Lacy’s post went over badly. The Lyon promotion had been an embarrassing mistake by a local office but the company prided itself on extending opportunities to women to become drivers and ensuring that, as passengers, women could order cars safely and not have to wait on dark street corners at night hoping to hail a passing cab. Lacy’s post, on top of all the mounting criticism that year, rankled.